UAE - Joint administrators for Dubai-based NMC Health said on Thursday that the most likely exit option for the company was either dissolution or liquidation.

However, administrators from consulting firm Alvarez and Marsal Europe said it would not be possible to conclude the ultimate outcome of the process until all investigations into the company have progressed and the liability position is ascertained.

NMC Health is the largest private healthcare provider in the UAE but came under scrutiny late last year when U.S.-based short-seller Muddy Waters criticised its financial statements. 

NMC had raised its debts to $6.6 billion, $4 billion more than what it had previously disclosed. Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB), the company's biggest lender, said in April it had begun criminal proceedings against an unspecified number of individuals in relation to NMC.

The hospital operator, which is now de-listed from the London Stock Exchange, was put under administration by London's High Court on April 9 on ADCB's application.

The joint administrators also said that based on their current estimates, they anticipate the company's preferential creditors could receive a dividend of approximately 100 pence.

 

(Reporting by Aniruddha Ghosh in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri) ((Aniruddha.Ghosh@thomsonreuters.com +91 8067 490 421; Within UK: +44 20 7542 1810;))